The controversy in the Java world about closures is getting more and more attention. These are the typical discussions I expect to see at the next JavaOne conference. I am not planning to start an explanation or discussion here, read Neal Gafter's blog for more information about closures.
It's good to see at least a discussion about closures and other things that are currently not part of the Java language but that would make it better. That proves that Java is an active language, and that a lot of people are actively thinking about how it can be improved.
One of the benefits of closures is that they decrease the use for inner classes. Without entering the discussion, either solution is fine by me. I don't use inner classes at all (ok, there are some exceptions that I don't take responsibility for anymore ;)), but it doesn't bother me they exist. Will I make use of closures when and if they are part of the Java language? Probably. But I don't see any blocking issue at this moment that would be solved with closures. Although I agree it would make coding in a number of cases "somewhat" simpler. And some people will make it in a number of cases "somewhat" complexer.
The bottom line of what I am trying to say is that most of us are trying to do their best with whatever concepts are available in Java.
Johan's blog 